William Hardy 2006-12-12
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
I am very picky about the audiobooks I'll listen to on my long commute. I've opened up books that I was very much looking forward to "reading," only to throw box and all against the rear window of the car after ten minutes of some boob murdering the prose. So when I find one I like, that means I like it a lot.
Commedian Lenny Henry's rich voice and delightfully accented character readings really bring Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys to life. Henry floats easily between an Americanized urban accent, thick British types, a hilarious cabal of little old black ladies in the wilds of Florida, and a number of Caribbean voices. His voice can be light enough that the females don't sound ridiculous.
Revisiting a character from American Gods, but zooming in on a more focused set of players, this is the story of "Fat Charlie" Nancy, an easily embarrassed, buttoned-down accountant in London with a dead-end job and a nice finacée. He makes a call to a family friend in Florida to invite his debonair, estranged father to the wedding, but finds his father has just died. After the funeral Charlie learns his father was the god Anansi, and that he had another son, Spider, that Charlie didn't know about. Not really believing any of it, he summons Spider, who quickly turns Charlie's life inside-out. Ancient animosities and modern crimes merge in Gaiman's fast-moving narrative. His sense of humor does not fly in your face -- you have to be paying attention and thinking things through -- but the comedy is rich and rewarding, in that restrained way the English are so bloody good at.
Several times listening to this I've laughed out loud, and kept chortling for another mile or so at some turn of phrase or quirk of character, or one of Henry's particular voices. I can recommend this wholeheartedly to anyone who enjoys Gaiman's sense of whimsy and storytelling.
